Blog posts from the press staff of Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer

As House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan prepares to unveil his fiscal year 2015 budget tomorrow, experts agree that he must employ even more fuzzy math* than last year in order to meet his unrealistic budget goals.

More than 5 million Americans and counting have now signed up for private coverage through the federal and state health insurance marketplaces, but House Republicans continue to waste time with pointless repeal votes and claiming that they’re going to come up with a health care reform alternative (which is always the same old ideas that don’t address the real issue, and that they never actually put into legislative form).

In the “completely unbelievable” news category, we’ve got yesterday’s remarkable actions by Chairman Issa to deny Democrats, in particular Ranking Member Cummings, the opportunity to speak and ask questions during a hearing.

As House Republicans plan their 50th vote to undermine or repeal the Affordable Care Act, Republican advisors are recognizing that an obsessive focus on taking away important patient protections may not be the smartest message.

While Republicans continue to ignore millions of Americans still struggling to find work (some even claiming that “the situation has been dealt with”), a new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that the percentage of the long-term unemployed remains above pre-recession highs in 41 states.

While Americans around the country are calling for action – with a recent poll showing 58 percent of voters support renewing emergency unemployment benefits – House Republicans are still refusing to take action to renew this assistance that expired last month for 1.3 million Americans.

The Republican “Do-Nothing” Congress strikes again. Looking toward the November mid-term elections, Majority Leader Eric Cantor has laid out an agenda for 2014 that makes it clear that Republicans still aren’t interested in getting anything done.

Here we go again… the budget agreement hasn’t even reached the President’s desk, and House Republicans are already threatening to default on our bills, which could cause another credit downgrade and further harm our economy.